


Sewing Needles and Paw Prints

by sleepysweaters



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-20
Updated: 2016-04-15
Packaged: 2018-05-27 19:57:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 18,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6298090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleepysweaters/pseuds/sleepysweaters
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Soulmate AU, on your 16th birthday you get a symbol on your body that represents your soulmate.  The symbols are in the same place as your soulmate.<br/>What happens when Marinette's soulmate symbol is a black paw print on her ankle?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

Marinette did not want to turn 16 next week, mainly because she didn’t want to have a clue to find out who her soulmate was. She knew that there was a chance that it wouldn’t be Adrien, and she wasn’t ready to face that.

Just imagine if the love of your life wasn’t your soulmate. Sure, there were always incidents where you didn’t romantically love your soulmate, but she didn’t want that to happen to her.

All she wanted was for it to be Adrien, but she knew that it wouldn’t be as easy as Alya and Nino. Alya’s birthday was first, she had found the symbol easily, clear headphones, since it had been on her wrist. Nino had a Wi-Fi signal on his wrist, and the two were smart enough to figure it out.

Marinette knew that Adrien was awkward about the soulmate thing, especially when people ask him. He had hid his and no one knew where it was; not even Nino. This led Marinette to wonder what it is, what if it was a Ladybug or something. That would be really uncomfortable for her to explain that she was in fact his soulmate, not Ladybug.

There was also the fact that she was Ladybug and she didn’t really have time to find her soulmate. She was too busy having to fight crime and keep watch over Chat to actually concern herself with this soulmate business.

Marinette was dreading being 16.

-

Adrien was doing a swimsuit shoot, which led to them having to cover up his soulmate symbol with makeup. It was on his ankle and he didn’t understand what the sewing needle and thread meant. All he knew was that his father wanted him to keep it hidden, it would make a cleaner image in photo shoots.

The thread and the needle could mean so much. That his soulmate was in love with fashion, or that she loved sewing quilts, or sewing anything really.

He didn’t hate the symbol, it was really pretty; the red outline made it look sort of like a new tattoo in a way though. The only thing that he didn’t like was the fact that it wasn’t a ladybug, he had dreamed of it becoming a ladybug. If it had been a ladybug, then he’d been able to know who she was; but it’s not a ladybug, it’s a sewing needle with some thread.

-

“Are you excited about your birthday tomorrow, Mari?” Alya asked and Marinette shook her head no. Alya already knew that, but there had to be a reason why she asked.

“I wish I could stay 15 forever, I don’t want to have a clue about my soulmate,” Marinette said to her friend and Alya laughed.

“You never know, you could have the symbol for someone you’re in love with,” Alya said, there was a wink and Marinette knew that she meant Adrien.

As much as Marinette wanted it to be Adrien, she had a sinking feeling that it wouldn’t be him. He was a model for crying out loud, and she only a girl with a passion for fashion. She wanted to be on his level of extraordinary, but she just wasn’t. Marinette may be Ladybug, but Ladybug wasn’t Marinette. Marinette wasn’t beyond confident or anything like her alter ego.

“Maybe,” she said and Alya sent her friend a small smile. Marinette knew that there wasn’t a maybe, that there wasn’t a chance, but sometimes you have to lie to yourself.

-

Marinette didn’t even look for her soulmate’s symbol when she woke up, she didn’t have the time. It had been another almost sleepless night where she slept through her alarm and was almost late to school. The run to school was the worst, mostly since there was a searing pain in her ankle, but she couldn’t be late again.

Alya was waiting for her outside of the school, a present in her hand and a smile on her face. This image is beyond reassuring for Marinette and maybe she should design her best friend a Ladybug shirt, or maybe a Chat Noir one.

“Happy birthday!” Alya exclaims and Marinette sees Adrien staring over at her. It catches her off guard and puts a little pep in her step. “Your hair, it’s not up like usual.”

“What do you mean?” Marinette asked as she felt her hair and sure enough, it was down. That most likely explained why she felt so hot on the run to school. “Do you have any spare hair ties, Alya?”

Alya shook her head no and a groan escapes Marinette’s lips. How could she be so careless to forget to even do her hair, at least she was dressed in her everyday clothes instead of pajamas.

“You look super cute, don’t worry about it. Adrien can’t stop looking at you,” Alya whispered and Marinette’s cheeks are covered in blush.

There’s another attack of the searing pain in Marinette’s ankle that causes her to fall a little into Alya. She’s afraid to look at it, she knew that’s where the symbol was. The symbols were sort of like tattoos in a way, they hurt like hell and were forever there.

“Your symbol is on your ankle? Want me to take a look?” Alya asked and Marinette nods, she couldn’t care about the stupid symbol.

Alya was dead silent after there was hitch of her breathing. Marinette isn’t sure what to expect when she decides to look at it herself. Alya wasn’t saying anything and it was driving her crazy, but she could understand why. She saw the black cat paw print outlined in green on her ankle and a yelp left her lips.

“My soulmate is Chat Noir?” Marinette asked her friend, there’s a level of terror in her voice that freaked Alya out a little.

“I thought you liked Chat Noir?” Alya asked, she recalled Marinette telling her about how she helped him with a villain once.

“No, why would I like a black cat? I’m so screwed,” Marinette said, panic was filling her voice and she her hands started yanking on her hair.

“Hey, it’s okay. Just calm down, it’s not like you have to deal with this problem right now. You rarely ever see him,” Alya said and it didn’t stop Marinette from freaking out.

“Happy birthday, Marinette,” Nino said on his walk over to Adrien. Marinette interrupted her freak out session to send him a kind smile.

Once he was out of sight, Marinette started yanking on her hair again. She was angry that she had convinced herself that there was the slightest possibility that her soulmate could’ve been Adrien.

“How about we go inside and you open your present?” Alya asked and Marinette nodded. Her anxiety was an all-time high currently, with her hair being down and knowing that her soulmate was Chat Noir; it was all too much for her.

“What if it’s just someone who really loves cats?” She asked and Alya chuckled at her friend’s proposal.

“If that makes you feel better, but I’m pretty sure it’s–, “Marinette cut her off with a glare. For someone who was so sweet and kind, her glare made you want to cry.

-

Alya had gotten Marinette new fabric, red fabric with black polka dots. It was so stretchy and soft that Marinette decided she was going to use it to make something for Alya.

Class was never exactly boring, but Marinette was bored. She wished that she had a seat next to the window just so she could see what was going on outside. Marinette may love sitting behind Adrien, but she would love it more if they were situated next to a window.

It was almost lunch break when Marinette was about convinced that her soulmate was not Chat Noir. It had taken almost four hours, but time never really matters when it comes to trying to shove down the truth.

“Want to go to that cute café around the corner for lunch?” Alya asked and Marinette nodded. She automatically knew that Nino and Adrien would be joining them, they joined them every day. Ever since Nino and Alya started dating a month ago, there were no more just girl lunches.

Soon the four of them were walking to the café. Adrien was walking next to Marinette, who was internally screaming as loud as possible. Her ankle still felt like it was aflame and she wondered if she was going to have to tell Chat that she couldn’t make it to night patrol.

“So, it’s your birthday, what’s your soulmate symbol? It’s probably really cool,” Adrien said, it came out awkward and forced. He had been practicing it in his head since that morning when he found out it was Marinette’s birthday.

“I’m not 16,” Marinette lied. Adrien knew she was lying, but he also knew that Marinette was incredibly awkward around him for some reason.

“I thought Alya said that it’s your 16th birthday?” He asked and Marinette looked like she was about to pass out. Adrien was beyond confused, and the couple were in their own little world. “Are you okay?”

Marinette leaned forward and Adrien knew she was about to fall, he was thankful that his reflexes had improved greatly over the past couple years. When he caught her, Alya’s attention went straight to her best friend’s ankle.

“What are you doing looking at her ankle?” Adrien asked, he was trying to pick Marinette but Alya was in the way.

“Her symbol is on her ankle, and it looks bad. Can soulmate symbols bleed, because this one is,” Alya said as she got out her phone.

Adrien took this opportunity to pick Marinette up bridal style. Nino was on his phone as well, looking up what it meant for your soulmate symbol to bleed.

“Hey Mrs. Dupain-Cheng, it’s Alya. I’m bringing Marinette home since she just collapsed and her soulmate symbol is bleeding. Be there soon,” Alya said before hanging up and leading them to Marinette’s house.

“Apparently if you figure out your soulmate and refuse it, it can cause you a great deal of pain and blood,” Nino said as they were walking which caused Alya to stop.

“What I’m about to say is not to be repeated to Marinette, because she’d kill me if I told you two,” Alya said and the two boys nodded. “Her soulmate is whoever Chat Noir is, and she’s refusing to believe it since apparently she finds him annoying. Do not tell her parents who her soulmate is, got it?”

“Got it,” the boys said in unison and Alya smiled at them content.

“Good, now let’s hurry since we’re two blocks away from her house.”

-

Marinette’s always hated the hospital. She hates needles, and she hates the smell of the place. She lives above a bakery, something that smells of happiness and love. Hospitals smell sterile and of not emotion. She just really hates hospitals.

So when she opened her eyes and heard the ding of a heart monitor, she may have screamed and shed a couple tears. The only thing that relieved her was the fact that she no longer felt any pain in her ankle, she was very grateful for that.

“You’re awake,” Alya said and Marinette to see her friend sitting in a chair next to the bed. She looked worried and freaked out, but somehow still calm all together.

“Why am I here?” Marinette asked, her voice came out as croak.

“You infected your soulmate symbol. I know it sounds crazy, but you infected it on your first day of having it,” she said and Marinette’s brows furrowed together in confusion.

“How did I infect it?” Marinette asked, this caused her friend to sigh.

“There are several reasons on how you can do it. First reason, you hate your soulmate, which I can’t see you hating anyone. Second reason, you completely rejected the idea that your soulmate is your soulmate, which is most likely the problem. Third reason, your soulmate died before you turned 16, and if it’s who we think it is; then that’s out,” Alya said and Marinette looked at her hands.

“I can’t be with him, Alya! He’s a hero for crying out loud!” Marinette exclaimed and Alya laughed a little bit.

“He’s a hero whenever danger comes around, but whenever he’s not Chat; he’s a normal teenage boy. You have to remember that, Mari,” Alya said and Marinette’s hands went into tight little fists.

“You don’t understand what it’s like to talk to him. All he ever does is flirt, make puns, and talk about Ladybug. His ego is bigger than the moon and he’s in love with Ladybug, not me,” Marinette said, her voice a little distressed at the end of her sentence.

“How many times have you spoken to him?” Alya asked curiously and Marinette wasn’t sure what to say. She had given away too much information about how close she was to Chat.

“Like two or three times,” she said, she wasn’t looking at Alya. Whenever Chat is brought up, she becomes incredibly uncomfortable and awkward, or is she always this way?

“Has it been business every time?” Her friend asks and Marinette isn’t sure what business really means.

“He’s saved me once and twice and I’ve helped him once or twice,” Marinette responds, were those considered business?

“Marinette, I think you’re just going to have to deal with him being annoying, and accept him as your soulmate so then you can leave this place.”

It all sounded so simple, so easy, but that’s not how Chat Noir works. If he sees you no longer being annoyed with one thing he’s doing, he starts something else and it’s a never ending process. Marinette probably won’t be able to deal with him, but she can try to accept that fact that he’s her soulmate.

-

Ladybug left Chat a voicemail, telling him that she wouldn’t be able to make it to night patrol. He wasn’t bothered by it, he liked it better without Ladybug whenever he had a lot to think about. After finding out that Marinette was his soulmate, he had a lot to think about.

He was still mad that it wasn’t Ladybug, but there was a piece of him that was relieved since it wasn’t Chloe. He didn’t know her that well, she never spoke to him when it was just the two of them. When she did, though, it came out in stutters and blushing. She spoke to everyone else in their class normally, besides him.

Then there was the part inside of Adrien where it all made somewhat sense. Marinette was a striving fashion designer, and he couldn’t believe that he had never made the correlation until now. He’s always been quite oblivious to his surroundings when he’s not Chat Noir.

Along with the part inside of him where it made sense, he was actually glad that it was Marinette.

There had always been a soft spot towards Marinette. He had never been aware of it until she fell into his arms, which was another thing that he needed to think about. Whenever their skin touched, there was an electric current that made him want to jump away from her. Was that another weird soulmate thing?

When Alya had told him and Nino that Marinette didn’t accept Chat Noir as her soulmate, there was an anger that bubbled up inside of him. He just wanted to know why he wasn’t good enough to be her soulmate, why she had to reject him before even telling him. Couldn’t she have just told him before going off and trying to convince herself that he was not it?

He was just confused. Was he that annoying that she couldn’t stand the thought of being with him? Did she hate him? He just wanted to know why she hadn’t accepted him as her soulmate.

-

Marinette was at school the next day and the smile she gave Adrien made his heart pound. Her hair was up today, unlike yesterday when it was down and fluffy.

“I want to thank you for catching me when I fell yesterday,” she said, she was looking at the floor and Adrien would take anything as long as she spoke to him.

“It was no problem, what are friends for?” He asked and he saw the small smile work its way to her face. She looked up at him and put a hand out. Adrien had established last night that Marinette was awkward with him, but he was going to go along with it. So he awkwardly shook her hand and she went to sit in her assigned seat.

He walked to his seat in front of her and sat down, he had told himself that he wouldn’t turn around and attempt to talk to her. According to her, Chat Noir was her soulmate; not Adrien. She didn’t even like Chat Noir that much to begin with, and he was going to work in that area before doing anything else.

“You never did tell us what your soulmate symbol was,” Nino said to Marinette and there was a tight smile on her face.

“It’s a black cat paw print outlined in green, whoever they are; they’re lame,” Marinette said, her voice full of humor and Adrien wanted to hide under the table. Marinette just indirectly called him lame and he didn’t know that he could feel this nervous until this very moment.

“Wow, you haven’t even met the guy yet,” Nino said, his voice full of laughter and Adrien was really considering running out of the classroom.

“I’m more of a dog person, so he better be really cute if he’s in love with cats,” Marinette joked and Adrien decided that laying his head (along with his dignity) on his desk might make him feel better.

There was no more talk about Marinette’s soulmate after he laid his head on the desk, or maybe he just couldn’t hear them. How was he going to get Marinette to like the Chat side of him? Or, more importantly, how was he going to get her to like cats in general?

-

Two days later was when Adrien convinced himself to check up on Marinette as Chat Noir. He wasn’t exactly sure what his reasoning was going to be, but he was already at Marinette’s window.

He tapped on the glass, he saw her jump from her spot across the room. All she was wearing was an oversized grey t-shirt that was almost to her knees. Her swift movements to the window frightened him slightly and she looked agitated. The window was opened and he went inside swiftly before she could shove him out.

“What are you doing here?” She asked, she looked tired and he knew he should’ve figured out his reasoning before knocking at her window.

“I heard you were in the hospital, and I was worried. Don’t want a princess like you getting hurt,” he said and she stared at him blankly.

“Chat, I don’t know if it’s just in your nature to flirt, but I don’t like you in that way,” Marinette said so bluntly that he staggered back a little bit.

“Princess, it’s just my nature to be like this,” he said, the air in the room was uncomfortable. He wasn’t sure if it was because of Marinette’s bluntness or the fact that he couldn’t help but stare at her in that oversized shirt.

“It’s just that I like someone else, I love him and I know that he doesn’t feel the same, but you can’t just flirt with people. It makes girls uncomfortable whenever you just randomly flirt with them,” she pointed out and she sat down in the floor. He quickly followed her suit and then he saw her ankle.

“You’re my soulmate,” he whispered out and she quickly covered her ankle and he was staring at her in amazement. He had never actually seen her symbol.

“What’s your symbol?” She asked and they both knew that he couldn’t show it to her unless he was going to reveal who he actually was right there and then.

“It’s a sewing needle and red thread,” he said and she looked at him silently. He could see her calculating something in her head, but he had no idea what it was. “You don’t like sewing, do you?”

He knew that was a mistake to ask that and the annoyance written in her expression gave that away right after he asked that. Marinette was really bad at hiding what she’s thinking, about everyone knew that in their class.

“You’re my soulmate, and I’m in love with someone else. Great,” she said with a dry laugh as she stood up and pointed towards the window. “Can you please leave, I need to get some sleep.”

“Yeah, sure thing, Marinette,” he said as he scratched the back of his neck. He looked up at her to see confusion written all over her face.

“You called me Marinette?” She asked and he nodded.

“You said that you don’t like the flirting thing, so I’ll stop. I’m sorry for bothering you,” Chat said as he got up and went to leave when he felt her hand on his wrist.

“Chat, I’m sorry for being rude. The flirting thing doesn’t actually bother me, I’ve just been irritated that my soulmate isn’t my crush,” she said and he turned towards her. Her touch was burning his wrist and he couldn’t stop staring at her hand.

“It’s okay, Mari. Is it alright if I come by tomorrow night? I’ll be here around 11:30 and I’ll try to control my flirty side,” he said and she chuckled.

“You don’t have to control anything, and yeah that’s perfectly okay. This entire visit would’ve been so much better if I wasn’t in my pajamas, and if you hadn’t dropped in uninvited,” she said and he smiled at her weakly.

“See you tomorrow, Princess.”

And with those words he was gone.

-

Chat didn’t show up the next night, or the next one after that. It had been a week since Marinette had seen Chat Noir. Marinette should’ve felt relieved, but she didn’t. There had been a part of her that wanted that black cat to show up and talk to her. Maybe it had to do with what Alya said, that she needed to accept her soulmate.

“Please don’t tell me you’re going to wait up for him again tonight, Marinette,” Tikki said and Marinette sighed. It was 11:23, he could still show up.

“If he doesn’t show up by midnight, then I’ll give up,” Marinette said and her kwami had a sad look in her eyes.

It was 11:30 when there was a tapping at the window and Marinette’s attention left her computer entirely when she saw him outside of her window. She couldn’t help herself from getting up and opening the window to let him in. He was standing in front of her and he was smiling at him with his big dumb grin.

“Hello, Princess,” he purred and she rolled her eyes.

“What the hell are you doing here?” She snapped and Chat’s green eyes widened at her language, along with her stance.

“I came to visit you,” he said and she laughed.

“You said that you’d visit me last week, you didn’t schedule this far in advance,” she retorted, all she wanted to do was hit him several times.

“Are you not happy to see me?” He asked and she sighed.

“Not necessarily,” she said, the way she drew out the words made him wonder if she actually meant it.

He took a step towards her, she was in an oversized blue t-shirt. It made her eyes pop, and he couldn’t stop staring at her.

“Do you want some milk and cookies?” She asked, she wasn’t paying attention to the distance in between them. Marinette was more concerned about the fact of how loudly her stomach growled. Sure, it was 11:30, but she was still starving.

“Yeah sure, what kinds do you have?” He asked, he wanted to use some puns on her. He remembered that she had told him that he didn’t have to control himself, but he knew that he had to in order to get her to like him.

“Most likely chocolate chip, my parents really love chocolate chip cookies,” she said and he nodded.

“That’s fine with me,” he said and there was an awkward silence before she went down the stairs to go get the cookies.

Adrien never had the chance to look around her room when he came over last, so Chat was doing that for him. Everything was nicely put together and then he saw the photos of himself, which was a really weird experience.

“I brought like 10 cookies because they’re really good, and you better understand that we both get five each,” Marinette said once she closed the hatch that led downstairs.

“Who is this kid all over your wall?” Chat asked and she saw him looking at the photos of Adrien. Her cheeks started burning up as she went over to her desk and placed the plate and glasses down. Marinette’s first instinct was to take down the photos quickly and hide them, but Chat’s laughing at her actions stopped her.

“What’s your problem?” She asked, her face still vibrantly pink and Chat stopped laughing at her humiliated expression.

“I just wanted to know who he was and you started ripping his photos down,” he said and she shoved a cookie into his hands.

“He’s just this kid in my class that I like, that’s it,” she said as she took a bite of her own cookie and Chat followed her lead. He let out a moan, the cookie was beyond good. “You’re acting like you never eat cookies.”

“I don’t, I’m constantly on a diet,” he said, it was routine for him to deny any form of sweets when offered, but this was from Marinette.

“A diet? Maybe I should eat the rest of the cookies myself then,” she joked and he shook his head.

“Please don’t, I’ll exercise for 20 more minutes than normal,” he responded quickly, another reflex.

“Are you a health nut or something?” She asked and he awkwardly laughed.

“Something like that.” More like he was a model who needed to watch what he was eating constantly.

It was silent after those words left his mouth, the two were too busy eating the cookies. The silence was comforting, Marinette was glad that he showed up.

“I’m sorry for not coming last week,” he said and she looked over at him.

“It’s okay, I just waited for you every night and look; you came,” she teased and he forced a laugh.

“I’m sorry for not coming,” he repeated again and she shrugged.

“Honestly Chat, it’s okay. I wasn’t entirely sure if you were going to actually come in the first place, so it’s nice that you even came now,” she said before sighing.

“I’m glad I stopped by as well, but I think I should go. It’s like midnight,” he said and she nodded. It was good that he knew not to overstep his boundaries as much as he already had, but Marinette wanted him to stay.

“Maybe you could come by tomorrow, same time?” She asked, she knew that she most likely shouldn’t have asked him that; she didn’t want a repeat of the previous week.

“Just leave the window opened a little bit,” he said before going across the room and leaping out of the window. Something in Marinette made her want to leap out the window after him (she didn’t do that since that’s crazy), and ask him to stay just a little longer.

She went up to her bed, falling face first into the bed. A groan escaped her lips and her kwami was next to her side within seconds.

“What’s wrong, Marinette?” Tikki asked and Marinette didn’t really know what was wrong.

All Marinette did know was that she didn’t want Chat to leave, and that he wasn’t his normal self. There were no puns and he was pretty quiet. It was like he was on his best behavior or something, which would be weird seeing that he rarely ever speaks to her as Marinette.

“Oh my god, he’s trying to get me to like him since I’m his soulmate,” Marinette exclaimed, Tikki giggled at the conclusion Marinette had just made.

“Can you blame him? You were a little harsh to him when he first came in earlier,” Tikki said and Marinette groaned again.

“I was just so hurt that I didn’t know how to not sound bitter,” Marinette said and her kwami sighed.

“Let’s just go to sleep, you can be nicer tomorrow,” Tikki said and Marinette nodded.

“Good night, Tikki,” the girl said while snuggling under the covers.

“Good night, Marinette.”

-

Chat came the night after that, the night after that, and so on. It started to become a routine for Marinette to crack the window open wide enough for him. At first, they didn’t sit near each other when he came over, but now they were situated next to the other on the floor.

Marinette was working on a new design, it was of a Ladybug hoodie. She had to explain to Chat that it was not for him, but for her friend Alya.

“You should make me a Ladybug hoodie,” Chat said as he watched her carefully finish the final details of the design’s sketch.

“And be able to spot you in a crowd, I’d rather not,” she joked and he sighed.

“But it would be purrfect if I had a Marinette original,” he said and Marinette chuckled slightly. Adrien was beyond excited on the improvement in her liking his puns; it wasn’t much, but she would chuckle at his puns.

“Well this Marinette original is only for Alya,” she said and he pouted.

“What if you made me a Chat Noir hoodie?” He asked and she shrugged.

“I’d need the fabric and your measurements and what you wanted on the hoodie. For Alya’s hoodie I’m making it have black fabric for the inner lining. I’m also going to try and stitch Ladybug’s signature in the pocket,” Marinette explained while she pointed at the design.

“You really enjoy this stuff don’t you?” Chat asked, he liked the light in her eyes as she spoke about it all. She looked over at him and nodded.

“I absolutely love it, it’s my passion. I can create something from my imagination and it’s so amazing,” she said and the light was back in her eyes.

“If I bought the fabric, would you make a Chat Noir hoodie for yourself?” He asked and she tilted her head in thought.

“Would you help me with the measurements?” She asked and he nodded.

“Then sure, but I don’t know if I’d ever wear it out in public,” Marinette said, hoping that he’d tell her to ignore his offer to begin with.

“That’s purrfectly fine, Princess,” he said as he flipped a page in her sketchbook. “Can I watch you draw it?”

He didn’t expect Marinette to stare at him for a couple moments after he asked that, he expected a straight up answer. All he could see was the bright blue of her eyes, he could see the literal sky in her eyes. Suddenly he couldn’t see her eyes anymore and met the mess known as her hair. It was freely down, and he always loved to see it that way.

“What kind of design do you want me to sketch?” She asked, all of her attention was aimed at the small book on the floor.

“What you did for Alya’s, but the lining be green and outer be black. On the hoodie pocket, you should have it where there’s a green paw print in the middle, and cat ears on the hood,” he said and she was trying to sketch that out as fast as he was speaking.

“Okay, I’ll probably ask for help over the next couple weeks since there’s not that much to go off of,” she said as she closed the small book.

“Am I getting all your attention?” He asked excitedly and Marinette chuckled.

“I was thinking about going to bed, you can leave if you want,” she said groggily, and on the verge of falling asleep in the middle of her bedroom floor.

“Can I sleep with you?” He asked, the smirk on his face didn’t fully register and she shrugged. There was a ping that came from his ring, which signaled that he only had four minutes left until he transformed back.

“There’s your answer,” she said sleepily and he got up off the floor.

“Good night, Mari, see you tomorrow,” he said and she sent him a tired smile.

“Night, Kitty,” she said as she waved him goodbye as he left her room.

Adrien didn’t know what it was about sleepy Marinette, but he always wanted to encounter her when she was that state. Where her smiles were so sweet that sugar couldn’t compare, where her voice has smooth as silk. His heart was pounding from the view of her as he left her room, his heart only ever pounded like this whenever he saw Ladybug.

It was too late for him to try to figure anything out, he was beginning to feel like Marinette after he changed into his pajamas and fell into bed. Before he could think about anything else, he was fast asleep and so was Plagg.

-

Marinette had invited Alya over to come get her hoodie. She had spent about a week on this, so she was really hoping that her friend would like it.

“Okay, what’s this thing you wanted to show me?” Alya asked and Marinette pulled the hoodie out from a box. She hid it behind her back and then gave it to the girl in front of her.

“I made you a Ladybug hoodie. I know how much you love her, so here you go,” she said and Alya wrapped her arms around Marinette.

“Thank you so much, I love it!” Alya exclaimed as she put it on. It was a little big on her, but it just made her love it even more.

“I wasn’t sure if you were going to like it, since I did put antennas on the hood. I’m really glad you like it,” she said and Alya sent her a smile.

“Can I post about this on the Ladyblog?” Alya asked and Marinette nodded.

“Sure, do whatever you like,” Marinette said as she wondered if she could work on her Chat Noir hoodie while her friend was there.

When she heard Alya talking to her phone, she decided against it. And there was always the fact that Chat loved watching her make things, he had been so enchanted when he watched her make Alya’s hoodie. She wondered why he was so into it, why he never spoke whenever she was sewing or cutting fabric. He just sat in the floor and waited for her to pet his hair every once and a while.

Marinette just wondered why Chat was still showing up at night to see her, even when there were no words involved. Usually there was only silence and occasionally cookies.

-

“Your friend Alya really enjoyed her hoodie,” Chat said, he was sprawled out on the floor. Marinette looked over at him from her sewing machine and nodded.

“How did you know that?” She asked and he chuckled.

“I follow her Ladybug blog, and I knew it was designed by you since I watched you make it,” he said as he winked at her.

“Why did you just wink at me?” She asked, confusion intertwined with her voice and he shrugged.

“Felt like the natural thing to do,” he responded. After a while of the two hanging out, the puns never really did make an appearance. Sure, sometimes all he would say were puns, but it was never a constant when it came to him and Marinette.

“Want to see what I’ve sewed so far?” She asked and he jumped up quickly and looked at the basic form of the hoodie.

“Where are the sleeves?” He asked and she pointed over at a pile of cut pieces.

“I attach the sleeves after I’m done with the main part of the hoodie,” she explained as she pointed at where she would be attaching the sleeves.

“Wait, so you don’t just sew everything at once?” Chat asked, he sounded so surprised that Marinette had to resist the urge of ruffling his hair.

“No, you can’t take everything at once, it’s a piece-by-piece type of situation. I also have a special process for how I make hoodies; hood goes before sleeves and sleeves go before the pocket. After a couple goes at making things, you get a process,” she said as she began digging through the pile of cut fabric to find the hood.

Chat was just watching her now and he did this a lot, and Marinette never knew why. Something overtook her when she turned to face him. He wasn’t even 12 inches away, but somehow she managed to take a step forward and still not be touching him.

“I’ve seen the way you look at me when you think I don’t notice. Why do you do that?” She asked and he was frozen. She could tell by the way that his wide eyes seemed to never blink or how his tense posture was that would hurt if he attempted to move.

She took one more step and she was almost directly under his chin, his body somehow became so tense that he felt like a board. She was afraid he was going to chop himself in half, or just hurt himself in general.

“You need to relax,” she whispered as she placed her hand on his shoulder. This action caused his eye to widen and his whole body to jerk. Chat stumbled backwards out of her grasp, he tripped over something and landed on the ground.

“I’m sorry, shit, I’m sorry,” he whispered before getting up and running to the window. He was gone in an instant and Marinette was staring at the window, she didn’t know what she did wrong.

The way he seemed so tense after her question, and how it only worsened under her gaze; she didn’t understand it. She didn’t understand him.

-

Adrien was staring at the ceiling in his room, what was wrong with him? Why had he acted so reckless? He didn’t understand where she thought that he was staring at her, he was obviously just waiting to see what she would do next to the hoodie.

“What was that about, you stiffened up like a board,” Plagg said and Adrien sighed.

“I don’t know,” he said and Plagg laughed.

“Are you in love with Marinette?” Plagg asked and Adrien shook his head.

“I’m in love with Ladybug, I couldn’t be in love with Marinette,” Adrien snapped and Plagg remained quiet after that.

Adrien couldn’t stop thinking about her wide blue eyes, how they were like staring into the sky itself on a cloudless day. They were full of desperation and he couldn’t get the image of her face when she had caught him watching her.

“Could I be in love with Marinette?” Adrien wondered aloud and Plagg groaned.

“You humans think about love too much, but never cheese; why is that?” Plagg asked, Adrien couldn’t help but slightly laugh at his kwami.

“She and I never really spoke about being soulmates, she’s never asked who I am under the mask,” he said and there was another groan from Plagg.

“You two never talk, so I mean I can’t blame her for never bringing it up. When you two do talk, it’s about sewing and fabric,” the cat kwami said and Adrien saw where he was coming from.

He had started learning about sewing terms, along with fashion as well, after he watched her talk about what she wanted to do with Alya’s hoodie. The light in her eyes as she spoke about something she was passionate about, it was beautiful. He just wanted her to continue to speak about it, even if he wasn’t exactly sure what she talking about at first.

“Just ask her about it the next time you see her,” Plagg suggested and Adrien nodded.

“I’ll do that, I guess. I just hope she’s not mad at me for running out like that,” Adrien said as he continued to stare at the ceiling. His thoughts were all jumbled and nothing was making sense anymore. All he could think about were Marinette’s big blue eyes and her soft, delicate smile.

-

Marinette wasn’t creepy towards Adrien anymore. She had taken down the photos and even changed her wallpaper on her computer (she still had the photo saved though), but when Alya caught her staring at the blonde boy; she knew something was up.

“What’s up, Mari?” Alya asked, the talk about Adrien had almost completely died down in the two months after Marinette found out that Chat Noir was her soulmate.

“There’s something off about Adrien, something that is there, but wasn’t before,” Marinette said, Alya looked at the boy across the courtyard and nodded.

“There is, I can kind of see it, but what is it?” Alya asked and that’s when Marinette saw something on his ankle.

“His pants are rolled up I guess,” Marinette said and Alya looked at the mark on his ankle and then down at Marinette’s ankle.

“You guys have marks on the same ankle, I wonder what’s on his ankle,” Alya said and Marinette squinted and could see the sewing needle. Her eyes widened and she shrugged.

“I don’t know what’s on his ankle, probably nothing important,” Marinette said and Alya nodded.

“It’s not like he’s Chat Noir; Adrien’s too busy to be a hero,” Alya said and Marinette nodded, but she wasn’t sure if she entirely believed that.

“I think I’m going to go talk to Adrien,” Marinette said and Alya gave her a thumbs up. Alya still shipped Adrien and Marinette even if they weren’t soulmates.

The walk over to him made his ankle perfectly visible for her to see the sewing needle and thread. The same symbol that Chat had told her he had on his ankle. Adrien looked over at her and sent her a sweet smile, one that she returned back.

“I was wondering if you understand the entire science lesson. I just can’t understand it,” Marinette said bopping the side of her head while speaking and Adrien nodded. She had been practicing that in her head over and over again on the short walk over, and she was pretty glad that she had been.

“Yeah, do you want to see my notes or would you rather meet up after school and I could explain it to you?” He asked and she shook her head.

“Notes would be highly appreciated, I couldn’t take you away from any of your responsibilities,” she said and he shook his head.

“I’m free this afternoon actually, but if you prefer notes then I’ll just email them to you,” he offered and she nodded, her mind is still racing about the symbol on his ankle.

She felt bad for talking about needing notes even though she understood the lesson perfectly. She didn’t know what else to talk about and now the two of them were just staring at the ground awkwardly and the silence was deafening.

“Could you give me your email?” Adrien asks, Marinette’s eyes flicker from his ankle to his face. He was looking at the ground, blush was on his cheeks and she didn’t understand why he was blushing.

“Yeah sure, want me to write it down?” She asked and she went to get a pen out of her bag when he was already holding one out for her.

“Write it on my hand,” he said, it sounded like an order, and in a way, it helps Marinette see that he could possibly be Chat Noir.

As she wrote her email on the inside of his hand, she was dying to ask him if the marking on his left ankle was his soulmate symbol. It was trying to leave her mouth, but she was done writing before she could even ask him anything.

He grabbed her shoulder and smiled at her with a cute smile. He walked away and she assumed that he would remember to email her the notes from the science lesson. She also assumed that this new piece of information was going to eat her alive.

-

It didn’t make sense that Adrien was Chat Noir. Adrien was so polite, quiet, and adorable. Chat on the other hand was flirty, never stopped talking, and (as much as Marinette hated to admit it) he was hot.

Chat also used puns a lot when he wasn’t around Marinette, and Adrien never really used any puns. Adrien was normally pretty calm and collected while Chat was frightened easily. Marinette remembered that he ran out of her room from her just asking him a question. That had been three nights ago, and he hadn’t been to visit her.

The akuma attacks had been random over the past two months and Marinette wasn’t at all affectedeffected by it. She understood that Hawkmoth probably chose the villains very specifically.

The ding from her tablet brought her out of her thoughts and she saw that Adrien had emailed her the lesson notes. She looked over them to see that they weren’t that detailed. Maybe Adrien was just bad at taking notes, which would be weird seeing that he’s one of the smarter kids in their class.

She emailed him back saying that she had gotten his email and a thank you for going through the trouble. She knew that he most likely wouldn’t email back, but she thought she knew that Adrien wouldn’t be her soulmate, and here she is.

Marinette looked at the time to see that it was almost 10pm and decided that she should just get ready for bed, it was pointless to wait on Chat to come visit her again. He hadn’t been back in three days, it’d probably take him a week to come back.

After she showered and blow-dried her hair, she put her pajamas on, and there was a tap at her window. She turned from her computer to see the dumb cat at the window and she sighed. Her walk to the window was slow, as well as her opening the thing as well. Chat was watching her carefully, and Marinette would’ve preferred him to stop staring at her. Once he was in her room, it was quiet and annoyingly quiet.

“It’s nice to see what the cat dragged in,” Marinette said before going into a fit of giggles. Chat joined in with her laughter and she sighed after a couple minutes.

“What’s up, Princess?” Chat asked casually, way too casually for Marinette’s liking. Something took over Marinette and her arms wrapped his torso; she was hugging him so tightly that he could feel any sort of love oozing from the hug.

Chat’s arms wrapped around her and there was a tight squeeze in return. He knew that this was just what friends did, friends hugged each other. He just wasn’t sure if her hug was friendly as his.

“I’ve missed you, dumb cat,” she mumbled into his suit and he smiled slightly. He didn’t think that she would miss him, he had made a fool out of himself the last time he was here.

“I’ve missed you too, Mari,” he mumbled back and they stayed in the tight embrace for a couple minutes until she pulled away.

She was wearing a black oversized shirt that almost reached her knees, something that he had grown used to in the time he had been visiting her at night. If she wasn’t in her pajamas, he knew that she was up late working on an assignment, and he would be forced to help her with it.

“Is there a reason why you’re here?” She asked and she looked up at him, her eyes were shining. Adrien wasn’t sure if he could do, normally his persona never came out when he was Chat Noir, but he could feel it coming through.

“We never spoke about being the other’s soulmate. I really think that we need to talk about this, about us,” he said and she looked away from him.

“Do we really need to?” She asked, her attention pointed towards the floor. He didn’t want to make her feel awkward, but they needed to talk about this.

“Yes, we do, because if we’re going to be in love with different people and be each other’s soulmate must mean that we’re just platonic soulmates, right?” He asked and she shrugged.

“I’m not really in love with the boy I used to be in love with. I may still like him, but I don’t love him,” she said so quietly and Chat stared at her.

His green eyes were staring into her soul and he wanted to understand what the sudden change was. He looked around her room to see that the photos of Adrien had been taken down and replaced with fashion designs. Even the wallpaper on her computer had been changed and he wondered when she changed it.

“Since when?” He asked and she shrugged, she remembered having the conversation with Alya. It had been two weeks ago when she noticed that her heart no longer skipped a beat whenever she saw Adrien, or whenever he did anything in general.

“I just realized that one day he didn’t have the same effect on me anymore. I mean he’s still extremely adorable and I probably have a crush on him, but I don’t love him,” she said and she still wasn’t looking at him. There were so many things she wanted to say, the words burned her mouth.

“I’m still in love with Ladybug,” he said and she nodded. She looked over at him and he saw some tears running down her cheeks.

It was silent and for once, and Adrien had no clue what to do to help her. Marinette was crying and he was just watching her. She wiped her eyes and turned her entire gaze towards him.

“I guess we’re just platonic soulmates,” she said, tears still cascading down her cheeks. His gaze was so focused on her face that he hadn’t noticed the hand that was stuck out for him to shake.

“Why are you crying?” He asked, he didn’t shake her hand. He didn’t know what game she was trying to get at, or why she was trying to seem so put together while crying in front of him.

“It’s not important,” she said, her teeth were gritted and he huffed.

“It’s important if you’re going to cry over it,” he argued and she pinched her nose bridge.

“I promise you, Chat, it is not important to the situation,” she argued back and he rolled his eyes.

“As if I’m going to believe that after I just watched you cry,” he said, his voice slightly raised and Marinette looked at him with hate burning in her eyes.

“Why do you even care? Why are you even here? You’re the one who ran out three days ago, so why come back?” She growled out, her mind was racing. Adrien couldn’t be Chat Noir, he wouldn’t raise his voice like that to her.

“I care because we’re friends, Marinette. I’m here because we are friends, Marinette. I don’t want you to feel alone,” he said and he reached for her shoulder, but she stepped back.

“I don’t want to be your friend, don’t you get it? I just don’t,” she hissed out and he groaned.

“Why don’t you want to be my friend?” He asked, hurt lacing is voice and expression.

“Because I love you!” She exclaimed and then covered her mouth after it came out. She knew that that was going to be hard to cover up.

“You what?” He asked, eyes wide and jaw slack.

“I don’t know, just leave. I don’t have time to deal with you,” she said as she shoved him towards the window.

“You love me?” He asked, the words sounded so bitter coming from Marinette’s lips. She rolled her eyes and shook her head no.

“I don’t love you, just get out of my room,” she said and she kept pushing at him. She was somehow stronger than he was and he was stumbling backwards from how hard she had pushed.

“Why are you pushing me away?” He asked and she fell to her knees. She was crying again and he was staring at her.

“Because you’re Adrien, and you love Ladybug. I’m not her, I can’t compete with her,” she cried out and Chat was frozen.

“How do you know I’m Adrien?” He asked and she looked up at him.

“Your soulmate symbol was showing today,” she cried out and he was frozen completely. He knew that he had forgotten to do something today.

“I’m sorry,” he said and she laughed slightly.

“You can’t help who you love. I’m not mad at you,” she said as she wiped the tears away. Her crying had finally ceased and he continued to stare at her.

“I need to go,” he said and she nodded.

“You leave at your own will, I should’ve known that,” she muttered, talking about trying to push him out earlier. He didn’t stand up, but neither did she. He wanted to move, he knew he needed to leave, but seeing her look so broken made his insides churn.

“When did you realize?” He asked and she looked over at him from her ankle. He saw that she was covering it, as if it would become a magic trick and disappear.

“Two weeks ago, once you left I felt lonely and I didn’t understand it until I realized that I loved you. You love Ladybug though, so it’s not like it matters that I’m in love with you,” she whispered, she didn’t know why she was whispering. Maybe since her throat was burning and it hurt to speak louder than a whisper?

“But if you know that I’m Adrien, then why say you don’t love me?” He asked and she sighed, it was ridged.

“I don’t know, okay? I just realized that I was in love with Chat, please leave, Adrien. I can’t deal with this currently. I’m so confused,” she said, her face planted in her hands. She was no longer calling him Chat, it was Adrien now.

“Okay,” he said before turning and jumping out the window and the feeling of air against his hair was no longer soothing.

Marinette loved Chat Noir, but didn’t love Adrien, and as crazy as it sounded; he understood it.


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette and Adrien have to face the consequences of being in love.  
> You may need tissues for most of this.

Marinette wasn’t used to crying like this, where it felt as if her heart had been ripped out of her chest. She hated the fact that she had to do that to him, but she had to. He didn’t love her, he loved Ladybug. Marinette was different from her alter ego, in her opinion. Ladybug wasn’t clumsy and forgetful like Marinette, she was strong and dependable.

It was almost two a.m. and her face was far imbedded into her pillow that she wondered if she would be able to remove it from her body. Another sob left her mouth as she clutched the pillow even tighter than before.

“Marinette, it’ll be okay,” Tikki said and this was the first time the small kwami had spoken since the crying had begun.

“All I can see is his broken expression. Tikki, what did I do?” She asked and the pillow fell from her face to reveal her tear stained face.

Her blue eyes had red rims around them and her cheeks were scarlet, as well as her nose. She didn’t look like the happy girl she usually was, but instead she was broken. The boy she loved didn’t love her, and the boy she fell out of love with was also the love of her life.

“You’re protecting him and yourself, it wasn’t the right time for Chat Noir to know who Ladybug is,” the red kwami said and Marinette wiped her eyes furiously.

“I think it’s time for me to stop crying and to sleep,” the dark haired girl said and Tikki nodded. All of this crying was bound to make Marinette ill.

With that the two of them both fell sound asleep.  
-  
Adrien dreaded school, he would have to see Marinette. It was easier when he didn’t know that she was in love with Chat Noir. He could handle her being in love with Adrien, but Chat Noir was something else.

Marinette had taken the time to somehow get to know him as Chat Noir, as his true self. The quiet nights of him being by her side, some nights where he laid next to her in bed as they stared out the hatch to the balcony. There had been a time when she figured him out and fell in love with him, and he wondered when that was.

He was seated at his desk, preparing himself for Marinette to walk through the door. The events of Friday were already playing in his head, and his eyes were focused on the door.

“Bro, what’s going on with you?” Nino asked and Adrien looked over to his friend, who looked pretty concerned for the blonde.

“I’m fine,” Adrien said, a smile found its way to his face. Nino didn’t look entirely convinced, but he didn’t say anything else.

Alya entered the classroom, Marinette behind her with a small smile on her face. Adrien could see how pale she was and the redness of her cheeks was vibrant.

“Good morning, Alya,” Nino said to his girlfriend as she passed him. Alya smiled at him and greeted him back.

Marinette’s eyes were glued to the floor as she passed Adrien and his eyes were glued on her. He was going against the original plan of just not looking at her, and hoping she would act normal.

“Good morning, Mari,” he said and she looked up at him. Their eyes met, and Adrien wanted to wrap her in his arms. Her blue eyes were filled with sadness and he couldn’t help but feel his heart break.

“Good morning, Adrien,” she whispered softly, a smile on her face. Adrien’s heart began to pound slightly and he couldn’t help but turn to watch her sit down.

This would all be perfect if she didn’t have that broken expression on her face, and if she loved Adrien and Chat Noir at the same time.  
-  
Fighting next to Chat Noir was weird for Ladybug. She had always known his love for her, but now it was weird. He had rejected Marinette for her. So when she was yelling at him for being stupid and putting himself in harm’s way once again for her, something overtook her to hug him.

“I don’t know how I would deal without you, Chat. You need to be careful,” she whispered into his suit and he was frozen in place.

“My Lady, I’m sorry,” he whispered back before wrapping his arms around her. It was a peaceful moment until the snap of a camera was heard and Ladybug pulled away from him.

The shocked look on her face tore at Chat’s heart as she looked up at him. The distance between them grew farther and farther apart before he couldn’t see her anymore and all he could see was Alya standing next to him.

“You love her don’t you?” Alya asked and Chat looked over at her, an unreadable expression on his face as he nodded.

“Yeah, I love, Ladybug, but so does all of Paris,” he said before he turned to walk away, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him.

“Paris also loves Chat Noir don’t forget that,” she said and he smiled at her.

“Thank you, I needed to here that,” he said before the beep of his ring made him dash off.  
-  
Marinette was staring in the mirror, she was wearing her Chat Noir hoodie and it was actually pretty impressive for her fourth hoodie. She had texted Alya, telling her to wear her Ladybug hoodie tomorrow. They would match, but Adrien would be looking at her.

Does he feel as torn inside as she does? Or does he not care about Marinette as long as there is Ladybug?

Soon enough she was crying at the thought him. She couldn’t help but want to call him and tell him that she’s Ladybug that he’s actually in love with her. The thing that stopped her from doing so was the fact that he could fall out of love with her all together, she wasn’t that impressive without the mask on and he wouldn’t be interested in Marinette.

If she would stop correlating every given moment with Chat to Adrien, then she probably wouldn’t be this sad about the whole ordeal. Marinette was having another moment of wishing that she had never turned 16, again. She had lost count of how many times she had thought about how she wouldn’t be in this mess if she wasn’t 16, or if her soulmate wasn’t him.

Why did it have to be Adrien? Why couldn’t it have been someone else? She wanted it to be someone who wasn’t her partner, someone who wasn’t an alley cat.

She thought these thoughts of not wanting it to be him, but deep down; she couldn’t help but be happy that it was him.  
-  
A week had passed of not speaking to Marinette, something that he hadn’t been used to. His feet were dragging throughout the halls and into the classroom. The first thing that he saw was Marinette in her Chat Noir hoodie, something he didn’t need to see.

She was standing next to Alya, who was wearing her Ladybug hoodie, and they were jokingly being the persona on their hoodie. He was frozen in his place, just staring at Marinette in the hoodie. The couple of days he watched her sew some of it, he felt connected to it in a way, but he didn’t expect his heart to be pounding so rapidly.

“You have to say a pun, Mari!” Alya said, her phone was recording the girl in front of her.

“Guess the cat’s out of the bag?” Marinette asked, and the smile on her face made him walk over to the two. They were located in front of Nino’s and his desk.

“C’mon, Marinette, you can do better,” Alya said and Marinette shrugged.  
“I think that was a claw-some pun,” Adrien said and the glare that Marinette sent over to him made Alya laugh. It wouldn’t have been like this almost a month ago, Marinette would be laughing about the pun trying to get Adrien to notice her.

“You’re making me un-cat-fur-able, Adrien,” Marinette said and Alya was laughing extremely hard at that pun.

“Why do you say that, Marinette? I think my purr-ns are great,” he said and the look on her face made him start laughing.

“Cats are so annoying,” Marinette mumbled before going to her seat and Adrien’s laughter stopped. The comment hit a nerve for some reason, and the look of concern on anyone’s face wasn’t noticeable to him since it wasn’t on her face.  
-  
“What do want from me?” Marinette asked, she was so quiet that Adrien could barely hear her. She was looking at her hands.

Chat had come to visit her again, but once he got into her room, he transformed back into Adrien. She had just let him in, almost like it was from muscle memory by now. The two were seated in her floor, he was staring at her while she stared at her hands.

Adrien didn’t know what he wanted from her. He didn’t fully remember even coming here, it was almost like his feet just wanted to visit the familiar place again. The familiarities of her room caused him to feel at home. For some reason, this place was a home away from home for him, and he didn’t know when that had happened.

“I just wanted to see you,” he said honestly, her eyes flickered up from her hands and there was a cold aspect in them that terrified Adrien. He knew that she was irritated and he was terrified of angry Marinette.

“You see me every day, Adrien, we’re in the same class,” she snapped slightly and he couldn’t help but flinch at the harshness in her voice.

“I wanted to talk to you, I want to be your friend, and I want you to like me, Mari,” he said, there was a pleading tone in his voice that made the coldness in her eyes lighten barely.

“Don’t call me Mari, only my friends call me that,” she snapped, and he could see the crumbling wall in her eyes and he wanted to reach out to her. He wanted to comfort her and let her know that he would be there for her.

“I’m sorry, Marinette,” he whispered and she looked up at him.

“Are you mocking me? Are you here to laugh at me?” She asked, he hadn’t noticed the tears running down her cheeks before this moment.

“Why would you think that?” He asked, worry filled his already overly compassionate voice. She let out a sigh as she wiped her eyes, coldness remained lodge in her eyes.

“Why else would you be here? You rejected me, don’t you get that? You told me that you’re in love with Ladybug, but here you are trying to do something towards me. What do you want me out of me, Adrien? Just tell me what you want,” she pleaded and he was lost.

“I already told you, Marinette,” he said slowly and her body went from a defensive posture to completely slack.

“You want me back? I was never yours, we’re platonic soulmates. You don’t need me,” she whispered out and Adrien felt the tears threatening to spill onto his cheeks.

“I need you. I need you as much as you don’t want me, which I’m assuming is a lot. You don’t want me, so you cut off all communication. Why do you get to call all of the shots in this? Why can’t I have a say in what I want, because I want you, Mari. I just want you in general, but you don’t want me. Why don’t you want me?” Adrien asked, tears running down his porcelain cheeks.

Marinette was cupping the crying boy’s cheek with her hand, every aspect of harshness that had once been in her posture was gone now. He found himself putting his hand over hers as the tears poured down his face, and soon she had moved closer to him. They were barely inches apart and all he could see were her blue eyes, it felt as if the ocean was about to consume him.

“Marinette, you need to back away,” he breathed out softly and she didn’t move. He didn’t want her to move, but she needed to. His breathing was becoming irregular and the idea of her moving away from him actually made him nauseated, but she needed to move.

“Why?” She asked and he couldn’t speak. “I thought you wanted me? Do you not want me anymore, have you changed your mind that quickly?”

Something in her voice made him lean closer to her, but she was backing away. He kept leaning forward, searching for her, but she wouldn’t let him near her. The nauseated feeling was slowing subsiding, but he still couldn’t understand why his head kept spinning.

“You should probably go home, Chaton,” Marinette said, her eyes were no longer a bright blue, but dulling by the second.

Adrien nodded and got up, staring at her the entire time. He was sensing something weird coming from Marinette. Maybe he was making things up since his head was still spinning and his body felt like it could be shaking.

“See you tomorrow, la dame,” he said before transforming and leaving her bedroom for the night. The wind in his hair helped him think, but he still came up short handed.

Who was Marinette Cheng-Dupain?  
-  
Adrien didn’t know that his thoughts could be consumed by someone that wasn’t Ladybug. All he could think about was Marinette, how close their proximity had been before he had left. What would’ve happened if he hadn’t told her to back away?

The look in her eyes is what drove him imagination to places he never expected to go when it came to Marinette. The clouded look in her eyes made him want to go back to her house and be back in that position. He had never experienced this feeling before, the feeling of wanting someone.

“She acted like that last night, but last time she said anything; she didn’t love Adrien, she loved Chat,” he mumbled. Being alone in the park gave him time to think, and time to breathe.

There was a figure swinging in between the buildings, and he automatically knew it was Ladybug. From the way that he could see the flash of red and the feeling of adrenaline rushing through his veins, he knew that it was his lady patrolling. All he wanted was to transform and take after her, but something in him stopped him. Maybe it was the fact that Marinette was still prancing around in his mind.

Ladybug was just patrolling the city, she didn’t need him to by her side. She was the hero when it came to the duo, not him. 

The conversation with Alya around a week ago came back to his memory and he knew she meant the best. He knew that she wanted him to feel loved, and he did at times, but he wasn’t the hero out of him and Ladybug. 

Love didn’t equate out to importance. He knew that from his mother leaving his father and him, but loving her son with all of her heart. He wasn’t important enough to be in her life, but he knew that she loved him. Or that’s what he hoped for dearly. He hoped that she loved him, and that she only hated his father.

Soon enough he was walking home, too tired to turn into Chat Noir (and forgot to call Gorilla). He was too tired for a lot of things currently, but he could never be tired of Marinette. He was tired of the confused emotions towards her, but not her presence.

Whenever he was next to her, he was calm. It was almost like she possessed a tranquil quality that made sure he wasn’t extremely nervous or angry around her. He did the opposite towards her and he knew that. He knew that he aggravated her beyond belief and that he made her extremely nervous. He knew a lot of things about her, but he didn’t know her.

Adrien looked up at the tops of the buildings, maybe he’d see Ladybug again and feel another rush of adrenaline. Maybe his thoughts would be preoccupied of her instead of Marinette. Or maybe, just maybe, he would be able to finally know what he felt towards Marinette.  
-  
Marinette couldn’t help but stare at the blonde boy who sat in front of her. The sense of familiarity of this situation hit her and she couldn’t believe that she used to do this every single day. The incident from the other day kept playing in her head.

His hot breath had been on her face and she didn’t think she could’ve been able to be that close to him without him flinching away. Adrien was fragile, but Chat wasn’t. That would’ve confused her if she hadn’t been Ladybug, and been the exact same way.

She was still in love him, with Chat Noir. The differences in between his alter egos were slightly too wide for her liking and it caused her to only fall for his Chat Noir side. It had been an innocent mistake, but all mistakes had consequences.

Adrien’s walls were tall and strong, no one would be able to knock them down, and she knew that. When Chat came into her Marinette life, there was a part of her that needed him there. She constantly missed the midnight smiles they shared, along with the quiet conversations that pertained to nothing yet everything.

She missed him general. When he came to her room several days ago, her mind was in control of everything, but there was still the yearning towards him that her heart had. She had learned long ago not to follow her heart, it only ever gave her heartbreak.

As selfish as it sounded, she began to wonder what it would be like to have both of them. Sure, they loved Ladybug, but there was the thought of what could happen that periodically went through her mind. Marinette decided that she try again, and maybe a third time would be a charm.

The bell rang and everyone went into the hallway, Adrien was typically the last one to leave the classroom. That wasn't the case today, Marinette was next to him and a lovely smile on her face. He was confused on why the girl who claimed she hated him was waiting on him with such a beautiful smile. 

"Adrien, can I talk to you in private?" She asked, her voice sweet and calm.

"Of course," he answered instantly and soon they were downstairs in a closet. Marinette had suggested that it was the place where they would truly be alone. 

Adrien looked over at her, ready to question what she wanted to speak about. His throat was dry, it was there once more; the one thing that he could purely classify as his weakness.

There was that blue from the other night in her eyes once again. It reminded him of the ocean, or would a lake be a better way to describe the color. The intensified color seemed so clear that he couldn't breathe. He was drowning in them, his throat was closed up and she was approaching him slowly.

All he could wonder was how she managed to become two different people when it came to him and everyone else. Adrien would've never expected for her to have this vibrant intensity, but here he was staring into it.

"Kitten, I've missed you," she said, her voice low and quiet. He wasn't sure what she was doing, but he found himself moving closer to her. He needed to reach out and grab her, he needed to be closer.

"Mari," he whispered out once her warm breath hit his cheeks. 

Marinette like this was a breathtaking site and he couldn't help but take mental photos of this moment. Her eyelids were fluttering closed and he wasn't sure how to close his. 

He could feel her hot breath on his mouth and their noses touching before he grabbed her shoulders. It took one gentle push back from him to make her eyes shoot open and the blue of her eyes to change into a different kind of intensity.

"You can't do that to me, you just can't," he said and her demeanor faltered slightly.

"Why? Why can't I be in love with you?" She asked, it came out as a plea in a way. He could see the sadness lacing within the blue of her eyes.

"You love Chat Noir, you don't love Adrien," he said, face serious and the blue turned into anger.

"You are Chat Noir, don't you get that? You smile more as him, you're happier as him! Chat Noir is Adrien, not the other way around!" Marinette yelled, her arms hitting shelves from them flailing around.

Adrien didn't realize what he was doing when he grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her into a hug. It was a tight embrace, but the emotion behind it wasn't defined like he wanted it to be.  
He wanted her to know how much he loved her, but he couldn't tell her that. He wanted to show her that his thoughts had been surrounding her, how he couldn't breathe when they were in the same room, or how he had never felt anything like this towards anyone else before.

Marinette's face was hot, and she wasn't sure if it was how close she was to Adrien, or if it was because she was angry with him. She was so angry that he wouldn't accept her love, she knew he needed it, but yet he refused it once again. She was so unlucky, even the third time wasn't successful.

"Why?" She mumbled out, face still rosy red.

"Why what?" He whispered into her hair, and he felt her sigh into his chest.

"Why won't you let me love you?"

There was deep sigh from Adrien, Marinette’s entire figure moved with it. She was clinging onto his outer shirt, her hands fisting the clothing, and he could feel tears starting to soak his shirt.

“Marinette, we can’t be friends if you keep doing this,” he said softly and there was a soft, muffled sob from her. He knew that he was breaking her heart, but he was afraid that she’d break his as well.

“I don’t want to be just your friend,” she sobbed into his shirt and he knew this; he felt this. He didn’t want to be just her friend either, but he needed to. He couldn’t get hurt again, he just couldn’t.

“Marinette, let go of me,” he instructed, his voice monotone as well as his expression. Her grip tightened and he didn’t know what to do, he was stuck.

“You don’t think you deserve love, but you do. If you could really see yourself, you’d agree with me. I understand that I’m a simple butterfly and you’re the entire garden, but I love you,” she said, her voice continually teetering.

Adrien took her hands off of his shirt and left her alone in the closet. He couldn’t do it, he couldn’t let himself be in love again. 

There was an infinite number of things that Adrien Agreste could do, but being in love was the one thing he refused to do.  
-  
It was midnight when Marinette was woken up by the tapping on her window. An alley cat was outside her window, which shouldn’t surprise her, but did. He used to come every night for about two months, but in the past month since her first love confession to him; he stopped coming.

But there he was, in all of his fidgety glory. Tapping at the window furiously, as if he was going to yell at her. It took her three minutes to trudge across her room to the window to open it, and it took him 3 seconds to enter the room.

“What are you doing here?” She asked, voice groggy and full of sleep.

“Who are you, Marinette?” Chat asked, more like demanded, as he stared at her harshly.  
Marinette was confused. Did he seriously just come into her room after midnight to ask her who she was? What was his deal?

“I don’t know, I’m Marinette?” She asked as she rubbed her eyes sleepily. Was there a right answer? The look on Chat’s face showed that there had been, and she hadn’t given it.

“I get that you’re Marinette, but who are you? I want to know more about the girl who has been stuck in my thoughts for months,” he said as he dragged his hands along his face.

She looked at him confused, she was still incredibly tired and not ready to deal with this. In her opinion, if she had bed head then she shouldn’t have to tend to a hero’s emotions.

“Go home, Adrien, you woke me up,” she said, her eyes squinting at him from the dark room still being too bright for her tired eyes.

“I can’t sleep,” he said and she closed her eyes and wondered if she could get away with falling down and going to sleep on the floor.

“Apparently I can’t either,” she mumbled as she pulled him further into her room. Once she reached the steps to her bed, she shoved him to get on up there.

“What are you doing?” He asked, shocked that she was trying to get him in her bed.

“I want to go to sleep, but you want to get to know me. Let’s do both,” she said, it made sense to her, but then again everything made sense to her when she was this tired.

He followed her lead, afraid that she’d get angry with him if he didn’t. Soon enough she was cuddled into his chest, and just about to fall back asleep.

“Do you want me to change back?” He asked, her sleepy demeanor made his eyes feel heavy and tired. He felt her head nod against his chest and in a flash of green; he was Adrien.

“I’m Marinette,” she mumbled sleepily causing him to chuckle slightly as his fingers made their way to her hair, slowly combing through it.

He could hear her soft snores and part of him liked the fact that she had just fallen asleep like that to the strum of his fingers in her hair.

“I’m Adrien,” he mumbled back in response, “and I love you.”  
-  
Adrien hated when he started to think about things. Every thought of his normally led back to Marinette, and he was trying to recover from slight heartbreak from that girl.

He had confessed his love and left before she woke up the next morning. He mainly left because he didn’t want her parents to walk in and see him cuddling their daughter. The heartbreak lied in the fact that she didn’t remember him coming over at all that night. Their conversation kept repeating in his head.

“I’m sorry for not staying,” he said, his fingers tapping against his pants. Marinette looked up at him with questioning eyes.

“What do you mean? Are you confused or something?” She asked, and he was grateful that they were alone or else he would’ve felt beyond embarrassed.

“Yeah, I’m just confused. Sorry, I’m just really stressed and busy,” he explained and she nodded without second thought.

“If you ever need anyone to talk to, I’m here for you,” she said, a smile on her face as she placed a hand on his shoulder.

The reassuring hand on the shoulder was something he hadn’t expected from her. The entire situation wasn’t something he expected, but her physically touching him was something she rarely did.

“Bro, everything okay?” Nino asked and Adrien looked up from his water at his best friend. Nino looked pretty worried for the blonde boy, and Adrien smiled at him.

“Of course, why wouldn’t it be?”  
-  
“Hey, Adrien, you’re going to catch lunch with us, right?” Nino asked, his hand intertwined with Alya’s. Adrien could see Marinette behind Alya, a smile on her lips as she spoke to her best friend.

He nodded, and soon the four of them were on their way to a café. This moment was so familiar, almost exactly like the one from about four months ago. Marinette was in between Alya and Adrien, she was quiet and stared at the sidewalk tentatively.

“How was your weekend, Marinette?” Adrien asked, her head flew up to look at him. That was also extremely familiar, as well as the shy smile she sent him.

“It was busy, I’ve been working on some designs recently,” she said, the sparkle that he so dearly missed came out slightly as she mentioned her designs.

“What do your designs include?” He asked, he was excited to be able to talk to her about sewing as Adrien. He knew it sounded stupid, but he couldn’t help love the feeling of his heart pounding in his chest.

“There’s a dress I’ve been working on, we do have a formal coming up,” she said, her smile was brilliant and he couldn’t help but stare at her.

“What kind of fabric and what color?” He questioned, he felt like his father, and for once that didn’t bother him to say.

“It has a pastel pink base, a stretchy fabric, with pink lace over it, and the sleeves are completely lace,” she said while showing him where the sleeves would end, her elbow.

“You’ll have to show me some time,” he said and she smiled at him, and nodded slightly.

“I will, but you’ll see the end product at the formal in two months,” Marinette said, a giggle escaped her lips and Adrien’s smile appeared to reach both ears at her laugh.

“And they call us lovebirds,” Alya whispered over to Nino, who nodded in response.

“They’re going to give us a run for our money,” he whispered back and Alya chuckled.

“Maybe, if they realize that they’re completely head over heels for the other.”

Adrien and Marinette sat next to each other at lunch, and spoke the entire time. This was something that Adrien had been yearning for, he didn’t know how long he had been wanting this for now. The smile on her face made his day, and the leaning into him whenever she laughed, brightened his dim world.

All he could hope for though was that something had broken when it came to her resentment with him. She was beautiful, while he was a broken boy stuck inside of a smiling body. His greatest fear was that this was fake, that she was pretending to be his friend. He didn’t want to be blocked out again, it was the last thing he wanted.

So whenever they were walking back to school and Marinette bumped him in the side with her shoulder, the biggest smile ended up on his face. She said a crumby joke and he laughed along with her, because it felt right.

It felt right. 

With those words repeating in his head, he felt as if he could take the world by storm. As long as he had a smiling Marinette, he could do anything. Just because it felt right in this moment.  
-  
Marinette sat at her sewing machine, working on her dress for the end of the year formal. She was pretty impressed of the result so far, even if this was her first time ever sewing with lace. Her phone dinged and she saw that she had a text from an unknown number.

Unknown: Hello, it’s Adrien from school.  
Unknown: Please tell me this is Marinette, because it would be awkward if it wasn’t.

How had he gotten her number? He had never shown interest of wanting to text before, so this was pretty unexpected.

Marinette: this is marinette and you text like a grandpa  
Adrien: Why does everyone say that I text like a grandpa?  
Marinette: you use caps and punctuation  
Adrien: I’m just really glad that you don’t use text lingo.  
Marinette: I can u kno  
Adrien: Sigh, I should’ve seen that coming.

Marinette was giggling at their seemingly boring conversation, but for some reason she was glad that it wasn’t beyond exciting. The ideas of baby steps made sense to her when it came to being his friend, she had forced herself in his life in a way. She wasn’t sure what to text back when her phone dinged once again.

Adrien: Also, I got your number from Alya.  
Adrien: I wasn’t supposed to tell you that, whoops.

It wasn’t surprising that he had gotten her number from her best friend, but she had expected Nino more than Alya. The laugh that left her lips from his comment of accidentally telling her, caught her off guard slightly. Why did he want her number in the first place?

Marinette: is there a reason why you’re texting me????  
Adrien: I was wondering if you would like to go on a date later today.  
Adrien: I was thinking around four, and we would go to a café and just talk.

Marinette was calling Alya in two seconds after she received that text, this was huge. Adrien Agreste was asking her out on a date. The phone rang three times before there was a very tired Alya on the other end.

“Hello?” Alya asked, her voice groggy and full of sleep.

“Adrien just asked me out, what do I do?” Marinette asked and it was quiet on the other line for a moment.

“Did you just say that Adrien asked you out?” Alya asked, she sounded awake now.

“He asked me out! What do I do?” Marinette asked, voice full of confusion and excitement.  
“Do you like him?” Alya asked and Marinette stopped for a second.

Did she like Adrien? Or did she just like Chat Noir? They were still the same person, but somehow they weren’t really.

“Marinette?” Alya asked and Marinette realized that she hadn’t spoken in a minute or two.

“Alya, I think I may love him,” she said and Alya sighed.

“Text him back and tell him yes, when is this date?”

“Today at four.”

“What the hell, Adrien? I will be over as soon as possible to help you get ready for this date, we’re going to make his jaw drop,” Alya responded and Marinette made a noise to show that she knew what would happen.

Alya ended the phone call and Marinette’s heart was racing. She had imagined what this moment would feel like. The pounding of her heart and the shaking of her hands were more intense than any of the moments where they had been only inches apart. Would it be okay if she sounded desperate? Or would that make him not want to go on a date with her?

Marinette: I’d love to!

Hopefully that didn’t make her seem desperate. She looked in the mirror and realized that she was acting like old Marinette, again. The one who knew where Adrien was every second of the day, who couldn’t speak complete sentences to him if she was looking at him.

She kind of missed this feeling of excitement, it had been so long since she had experienced it. Her feelings had been forced to be muted, trying to get them to fade away. The responsibilities of Ladybug weren’t registering at the moment, and when they would register; it would throw her off guard.

Alya was over in about five minutes and forced Marinette to go shower before they did anything. They needed a fresh canvas as Alya had put it.

Once Marinette came out of the bathroom, Alya had an outfit picked out along with several other accessories and makeup products. These next three hours were going to be pure torture for Marinette, she could feel it in her bones.  
-  
After arguing with Alya about her hair for 10 minutes, Alya won. Her hair was being curled and would remain down, except for a small halo braid that ended up resting right behind her fringe. Marinette missed her normal pigtail hairstyle, she thought that it was cute and easy.

“Shit, you probably should’ve put on your outfit before we did your hair. How about you do that quickly,” Alya said and Marinette nodded as she grabbed the outfit laid out for her.

The outfit looked simple and comfortable, two things that Marinette loved. A baby blue sweater tucked into a white skater skirt, she didn’t know what shoes she would be wearing. All she could hope was that she wouldn’t be wearing high heels, she absolutely hated those things.

Alya started doing her makeup, which was just foundation and white eyeshadow. Everything was seeming easy, which terrified Marinette since she knew who Alya was.

“Is there anything else?” Marinette asked, after putting on her white flats and looking in the mirror. She looked good, maybe it would surprise Adrien.

“I may have told your parents that you’re going on a date with Adrien, and they may want to take a lot of photos,” Alya said awkwardly and Marinette went completely white.

“Let me guess, they asked you to get photos of Adrien and me on our date?” Marinette asked, pure terror in her voice.

“They may have mentioned that,” Alya said, every word seeming to be dragged out. Marientte’s hand flew to her face and Alya screeched. “I just did your makeup, do not fuck it up!”

“I bet Adrien won’t mind, what do you think?” Marinette asked, her voice going high-pitched with fright. Alya nodded and smiled.

“Adrien will probably want to take pictures of you since you look so cute, you’re welcome,” Alya said as she flipped her hair slightly and Marinette smiled at her friend.

“Thank you.”  
-  
Making her way to the café, Adrien had sent directions, made Marinette’s anxiety levels rise extremely. Even though Alya was by her side, Marinette couldn’t help but shake.

“What if I forget my own name?” Marinette asked, truly concerned over this one thing.

“Adrien knows who you are, it’s going to be okay. Just act like it’s the other day at lunch. Dates are like exclusive friend hang outs,” Alya said, trying to calm Marinette down.

“Yeah, just because you go on a date with someone, it doesn’t mean you’re not friends,” Marinette said, her breathing still unstable.

“Yeah,” Alya said awkwardly as she caught sight of Adrien waiting for Marinette outside of the café.

He was in a plain black shirt, his same blue jeans, and light blue button up that didn’t have any of the buttons buttoned. She heard a slight gasp come from Marinette, and knew that her friend saw the boy.

“I can’t do this, Alya, not when he looks like that!” Marinette exclaimed, Alya sighed before pointing at Marinette’s outfit.

“You look great, better than he does. You can do this,” Alya said supportively, hoping that it would rub off on Marinette before they parted ways.

“He’s still my friend, doesn’t matter that he’s really hot and we’re going on a date,” Marinette said unconvincingly, her face had a cry for help etched all over it.

“Go up to him, you got this.”

The walk over to Adrien felt like eternity for Marinette. His green eyes widened when he saw her, which made her freak out slightly and trip over her own feet. Adrien caught her though, like he always does, and the smile on his face made Marinette’s inside flip flop.

“You look beautiful,” he said as he helped to her stand up and she nodded.

“You look beautiful, too. Wait– I mean you look hot, no, I mean nice. You look nice,” she said, her words stumbled out and he sighed before chuckling.

“Thank you, let’s go inside,” he said and she nodded, her face was red and Adrien was looking at her as if she was the sun.  
-  
Adrien couldn’t help but let his eyes go to Marinette, who was seated by a window in the café. She was angrily texting someone, he suspected Alya, and he couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight. The nervous girl that she was being currently was just another part of her that he loved.

“How can I help you, today?” Maggie, an employee, asked Adrien and he got out as his wallet as he looked up at the menu.

“Two pieces of lemon cake, and two cups of Yorkshire tea,” he ordered, before paying.

He made his way over to Marinette, who looked like she was about to have a break down. Adrien sat across from her, which spooked her, and she jumped about a foot off her chair.

“I’m so sorry, I wasn’t sure if I should say something or just sit down,” he apologized and she nervously smiled at him.

“It’s fine, Adrien,” she said, she seemed calmer than earlier. He noticed her phone was face down on the table, meaning that she was ready to start their date.

“How have you been?” He asked, not really sure how to start off a date. He may know her favorite tea since she orders it every time they go out to lunch, but he knew nothing about dating.

“I’ve been okay, school has been stressful with all the tests recently,” she said and he nodded. He wasn’t sure if eye contact was weird, but he couldn’t help that he was constantly staring into her eyes. “How have you been?”

“I’ve been good,” he said, that was only true because she had been asking him to come to lunch with the others every day for almost a week now.

Silence fell over the two, not exactly sure what to talk about. Someone walked over and brought them their order and Marinette was grinning at her tea.

“Yorkshire tea is my favorite tea. How did you know?” She asked, her eyes lighting up as she took a sip from her cup.

“You order it every day at lunch, I just assumed that you liked it,” he said and she nodded. He could see her mood lightening up.

“Do you remember when Nino tried to open the door for Alya, only to trip over his shoelaces?” Marinette asked, Adrien started to laugh while he nodded. The two were laughing at the memory of their friend.

“And then he got up and goes ‘At least my headphones aren’t broken,’ and Alya just groaned,” Adrien added and Marinette started to laugh even harder.

“Nino would probably put his headphones over Alya when it came to deciding between the two,” Marinette and Adrien nodded.

“He loves his music, can’t really blame him,” he said as he watched her push her sleeves up and put her head on her hands.

“I hope you like lemon cake,” he said, turning his attention to the cake. Marinette looked beyond attractive in that position, and Adrien was restraining himself from staring at her.

“I live in a bakery, I love all sweets,” she said with a smile and his stomach started to do flips at the gesture.

He was blushing, he could feel it, and Marinette looked out the window. She looked like one of those girls who were the protagonist’s love interest, but to Adrien, that wasn’t who she was.

Marinette was the protagonist, and he was her love interest. He couldn’t imagine being the protagonist when it came to the two of them. She was a bright star, and he didn’t want to get in her way.

“Are you still in love with Ladybug?” She asked, her gaze still on something outside the window. He didn’t know how to respond, he hadn’t been thinking about his partner for a while.

“No,” he answered, he heard her breath hitch and her bangs covered her eyes. He didn’t understand what was the matter, what he had done wrong.

“Are you sure? You seemed pretty obsessed with her,” she said, her voice low and quiet. She turned her face to look at him, and he could see the curiousness in her eyes.

“I’m not in love with her, anymore. I promise,” he said and Marinette smiled at him slightly before sighing.

“What’s your favorite color?” Marinette asked, obviously changing the subject and he chuckled.

“My favorite color is blue, it reminds me of you,” he said and she rolled her eyes at the cheesy comment.

“My favorite color is red, it reminds me of justice in a way,” she said and he chuckled.

“You were supposed to say green and then say that it’s like my beautiful eyes,” he said as he fluttered his eyelashes causing her to giggle.

“I don’t want to give you false hope,” she joked and he laughed slightly.

“What am I supposed to live off of if there’s no false hope?” He asked and she tilted her head upwards as if she was thinking.

“I suppose you can live off of my beauty,” she teased, he bopped his head as if it should have been clear to him all along.

“Of course, what else would I be living off of,” he said, the smile on his face caused her to blush.

This was going good, it was just like Alya said; an exclusive hangout for friends.  
-  
Adrien and Marinette were walking in the park, they had just left the café after sitting in there for an hour talking.

“I love winter, and this cold weather just gets me excited for it,” Marinette said, her grip on Adrien’s hand tightened slightly.

“I’m going to have a lot of winter photoshoots coming up, and that’s going to be a joy,” he said sarcastically, and she smiled over at him sympathetically.

“You’re going to look cute in all of the photos, so don’t get too down,” she said and he started to blush once more.

“Maybe one day you can come experience what an Agreste photoshoot is like,” he suggested. Marinette’s response was a shrug, causing him to laugh.

She looked around to see that there was no one in the park besides them, something that rarely ever happened. Adrien could sense her nerves building up again, but he didn’t know why her hands were shaking.

“What’s wrong?” He asked and she dropped his hand, her face distressed. He could see the war fighting in her head, and he was worried for her.

“I haven’t been completely honest with you,” she said and his worried expression seemed to become even more intense.

“What do you mean?” He asked, he sounded as she was about to disappear in front of him. Marinette took a step back before sighing, he could see how tense she was.

“Please, just don’t hate me. Or just don’t tell me you hate me,” she said, her voice sounded so battered and the nerves were shoved within the realms of her vocal chords.

“I could never hate you, just tell me,” he said, he reached out for her hand, but she jerked it away. This was a serious matter, and if Adrien touched her; she would become putty and stop talking.

“Can we maybe go over to those trees?” She asked, he nodded. He would do whatever she needed him to do, as long as she was okay.

The trees held a seclusion factor, something that Marinette would need to tell him this. As long as they were slightly hidden, she would feel better about the entire situation. They stopped and Marinette turned to look at him, only seeing how worried he was.

“I’m Ladybug,” she whispered out, Adrien just stared at her. His eyes were full of confusion and he took a step back from her.

“You c-can’t b-be,” he stuttered out, his head shaking side to side at about a hundred miles per hour. Marinette nodded, her curls bouncing up and down.

“I can prove it,” she said, her voice sounded shallow from feeling as if she could almost cry.

“How?” He asked, his voice had frustration growing within it.

“Tikki, spots on,” she said sadly. A flash of red surrounded Marinette before Ladybug was there in her place. She didn’t wear the normal expression that his lady normally held, it was sad and he could see Marinette within her eyes now.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” He asked, voice wavering and tears building up in his eyes.

“I was afraid you’d only love Ladybug, but not Marinette,” she responded, he could tell that she was about to break down from the way her body was shaking.

“Like you acted like that with Chat Noir,” he said bitterly, and Marinette’s entire body changed. Her tense posture went slack and her eyes fell to the ground.

“That was different, though. I love all of you, from Adrien to Chat,” she said, tears rolled over the mask and down her face.

“That’s not how it felt, Marinette,” he said, he was monotone as he saw his world fading into gray once more. Or it was until he felt her pull on his shirt collar and pull his close.

“You’re not allowed to give up, please don’t give up,” she cried and his eyes went wide. Was she the first person to see through his castle like walls, and be able to tell that he wasn’t always smiling?

He thought that she would’ve kissed him, but instead she pulled him in for a hug. Her face in the crook of his neck, and somehow his arms were holding her and tightly. Adrien understood what Marinette felt like when he rejected her so long ago, and he understood why she had kept this a secret from him.

“I’m sorry,” he said before he felt her transform back to Marinette. He knew that she wanted this to be an Adrien and Marinette moment, not one of them as their other persona.

“I love you, and I was so afraid that you would hate me,” she cried and he could feel her getting his shirt wet.

“Why would I hate you?”

“Because Marinette isn’t Ladybug, she’s a clumsy girl who gets nervous easily, and worries over every little thing. She’s not brave, or witty like Ladybug. She’s not the girl you fell in love with,” Marinette responded, he knew that she most likely thought of this scenario constantly.

“Marinette is brave, witty, strong, beautiful, sweet, kind, and so much more. I love you for you, not for what you believe you are,” he said. Marinette felt him place a kiss in her hair, causing blush to rise to her cheeks.

Marinette put her arms around his neck, and pulled away slightly to look up at him. He was staring at her with such care and she did the same. It was quiet in the park, and Adrien couldn’t stop staring at the girl in front of him. Her eyes sparkled with tears, but she had a soft smile on her face.

“You love me?” She asked, the smile only grew as he started to blush.

“Well you love me, too,” he said and she nodded. He could see that she wasn’t afraid to admit it, and that brought another smile to his face.

“I love you, Adrien Agreste,” she said, the soft smile had become a grin. The two were matching, grins covered their faces and their hearts both beating extremely fast.

“I love you, Marinette Dupain-Cheng,” he said and she sighed happily. Everything felt perfect for the moment, nothing out of place, but the feeling of something missing coursed through Marinette’s veins.

She was leaning forward, her eyes fluttering to close and she could see Adrien replicating her actions. Their noses hit together hard, causing them to pull away.

“Try again?” He asked and she nodded, they tried once more before she gave up on waiting for him to lead.

She took a hold of his face, pressing their lips together. All the pent up emotion somehow found its way into the kiss, causing both of them to be thrown off by it. They both had to pull away from the extremely messy kiss, Adrien looking flustered as well as Marinette.

“Try again?” She asked and he nodded, only this time he was cradling her head in between his hands. Her hands found their way into his hair, while his hands wanted to jump away from her face and go to her waist.

His hands followed their instincts, and neither of the teenagers had imagined this moment like this; harsh and passionate. The daydreams of a soft and gentle moment had dispersed once Adrien collided with her.

Adrien wasn't sure if he could crash into her any harder than he was. Every emotion he had every contained for Ladybug– for Marinette was put into this kiss. He was screaming at her that he loved her, that he was so in love with her. All he could hope for was that she returned the feeling, that she loved him oh so much as well.

He didn’t know if she could understand his message, but all he knew in that moment was that Marinette Dupain-Cheng was the sun and he was completely crashing into her.  
When they pulled away from each other, he could see a glimmer in her eye. It may have been small, but it was the biggest indication that she read him loud and clear. The smile on her face and the how out of breath she was, were her ways of telling him that she loved him like he loved her.

Four months had felt like an eternity to reach this moment of complete and utter happiness. Neither of them would have change a single thing if it would resolve in changing how all of this would’ve ended. As long as this was the end product, in the other’s arms, they were fine with whatever the journey was.


End file.
